Turkish/Greek Cafes (NY, NY and unknown, unknown dates)

I have always treasured this picture of my grandparents, which I was told was taken in a Manhattan Turkish/Greek nightclub. I would guess it was in the 1940s, but I'm not sure. There is something really evocative about it.

Today I happened to find myself listening to Maria Callas singing an aria from La Traviata. When I looked at her bio in the Wikipedia, I found this picture, which to me really resembles the picture above. Turks & Greeks, again, an ongoing theme here.

Rae and Molly (Los Angeles, CA, Jan 1961)

Rae and her mother.

Skippy and My Mother's Diary (Bronx, NY, 1945, and about 1949)

In preparing to ship a lot of stuff for the summer, we ran into my mother's diary from the year 1945, the year she became pregnant and prepared to marry my father. She was 17 and he 16. I felt a little shy reading it, but then I found a letter to her future children. It's pretty touching to read many of the entries, though a lot of it is typical teenage ranting.

Below is her entry on her dog, Skippy, who I remember as being my grandmother's dog when I was small. [As with all pictures, click on it for a larger version that you can read.]


My mother, grandmother and Skippy.


Skippy and Paul (I'm pretty sure that's Paul).

My Grandparents, Two Uncles and Me (Bronx, NY, ~1949)

It's Sunday, so a family event. I believe this was at a party after Rae and Jerry's wedding, in our apartment on Weeks Ave. in the Bronx.

My Uncle HWMNBN's Graduation, with my Grandmother (Bronx, NY, 1955)

Wild guess on date: I guess this is his HS Graduation-He graduated from college also, but this doesn't look like The New School, and they look too young. He's about 11 years older than me. (Update: HWMNBN got in touch with me, and told me it was 1955; he's 9 years older than me.)